Leave Policy 713 to the courts: former Tory minister

Moncton-area PC MLA Daniel Allain says the government should leave the future of Policy 713 to the courts and return its focus to the issues that New Brunswickers care about most, like housing and affordability.

“Policy 713 … the matter is before the courts. Let that process go forward; that would be the proper thing to do right now and we can always talk about Policy 713 later on,” he said.

“But right now New Brunswickers want to talk about inflation, housing and health care.”

Allain is the former minister of local government and was dropped from cabinet after he and five other government MLAs voted with opposition parties to ask the province’s child and youth advocate to review changes to Policy 713, which sets minimum standards to protect LGBTQ2 students. Earlier this year the province changed the policy to require parental consent for children under 16 to use a preferred name or pronoun different from the one on their birth certificate for gender identity reasons.

The revised policy is being challenged by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the province’s district education councils are considering launching their own legal challenge as well.

Green MLA Megan Mitton says there shouldn’t have to be a choice between standing up for LGBTQ2 rights and addressing other issues that the province faces. She says it’s important to keep fighting anti-LGBTQ2 sentiment, pointing to Premier Blaine Higgs’ decision to meet with protesters last week calling for LGBTQ2 issues to not be taught in schools.

“Premier Higgs has stirred up a lot of hateful rhetoric in this province and a lot of people in the LGBTQ2+ community are not feeling safe and their rights are under attack,” she said.

“Human rights have to be defended and prioritized while we work on things like housing and health care and the economy.”

Allain’s comments come as there is growing speculation that Higgs may call a snap election this fall to solidify party support for the changes to Policy 713. But Allain says the government should be cautious about centring a campaign around the policy and the premier’s rallying cry of respecting “parental rights.”

“We have an election in Manitoba right now and I think the PCs aren’t doing that good,” he said.

Incumbent Manitoba PC Premier Heather Stefanson has promised to make changes to that province’s school gender identity policy similar to those made in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan should her party form government after the votes are tallied in Manitoba’s election on Oct. 3. Recent polling has shown the NDP and Leader Wab Kinew appear to be pulling greater levels of support at this point in the campaign.

Allain says the New Brunswick PCs can look to recent history for a cautionary tale about single-issue campaigns, pointing to the debate over shale gas development that played out during the 2014 election that saw the Liberals form government.

“After two weeks people were agreeing with us, but for the last two weeks, we couldn’t pivot on something else,” he said.